ROCKFORD — Last week’s announcement that Schnuck Markets Inc. plans to close two of its stores and closed restaurants at two others prompted some swift activism and left an agency for older adults looking for a new place to serve meals.

The company plans to close its stores at 2514 S. Alpine Road and 1715 Rural St. at 5 p.m. May 31. It made the announcementMay 1, the same day it also closed the restaurants inside the stores at 1810 Harlem Road in Loves Park and 6410 E. State St. in Rockford.

Lori Willis, Schnucks’ director of communications, said in an email that the company’s consumer affairs team had received comments and inquiries that are mostly about the Rural Street store. The smaller store is nestled in a neighborhood between houses and other retail businesses and is a 57-year-old facility.

At least two online campaigns have sprung up related to the Rural Street store, including a Facebook group called “Save Our Schnucks” that had about 60 members as of Wednesday afternoon and an online petition at change.org to bring a Trader Joe’s to the location once Schnucks closes.

The online petition had about 1,000 signatures as of Wednesday. The Rural Street property is managed by The DESCO Group of St. Louis, run by Mark Schnuck, brother of Schnucks’ leaders Scott and Todd Schnuck.

Willis said the company had not reached the point in discussions where she can talk about plans for the property. She said that its first concern is for employees and customers, and that The DESCO Group is actively marketing the property.

Alison Mochizuki, public relations director for Trader Joe’s, said Rockford is not in the company’s two-year plan for opening stores.

“Although it is nice to be wanted, wooing doesn’t go into our decision-making processes of selecting a location,” she said in an email.

The immediate closure of the East State Street and Loves Park store restaurants displaced a senior meals program organized by Lifescape Community Services.

A sign at the East State Street store reads, “We’re sorry, but the restaurant is closed.” The seating area is still open, as are the pizzeria, salad bar, soup bar and deli.

Lifescape’s Congregate Dining program served about 2,500 meals total each month between the two locations, said Mike Hughes, Lifescape’s chief operating officer. The agency has had dining sites since 1973 and started at the Schnucks stores in February 2010 when the stores still bore the Logli name.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served at various locations in Boone, Lee, Ogle and Winnebago counties. Congregate Dining is funded by federal dollars, and the meals must meet certain nutritional standards.

Lifescape partnered with restaurants and other locations that make the food and then are reimbursed by Lifescape for the meals.

“It’s been a very good relationship with Logli then and now Schnucks,” Hughes said. “The closing wasn’t about us. It was a corporate decision they made. It’s a bigger issue than Lifescape.”

News of the restaurant closures came the same day Lifescape was preparing for its Rockford’s Best Dish fundraiser. Hughes said some restaurants had called offering to help, and the group’s staff members are researching potential new partners.

The program needs to maintain a certain level of participation to keep its funding, so Hughes said the agency isn’t waiting too long to find a new location to serve meals.

Willis said Schnucks had still hoped to accommodate the Lifescape team after the restaurant services closed but may not be able to meet state requirements for the program.

“We are working closely with them to see how best we can help,” she said.

Here are a few more tidbits from Willis in response to reader questions the Register Star has received:

- There won’t be a formal going-out-of-business sale at the two stores that are closing. There’s no specific date for any special promotion, but “customers will find opportunities for discounts during the course of the next three weeks.”

- Closure of the restaurants resulted in the loss of 24 full- and part-time jobs, but the company last week said all 139 employees at the closing stores would be offered positions at neighboring stores. She said all but a few positions, in general, at Schnucks stores are hourly.

As to how Schnucks can absorb the jobs, Willis said this:

“As part of the Rockford restructuring announced on May 1, Schnucks leaders committed to preserving the jobs of 139 teammates who were to be displaced due to the two store closings. Rather than eliminate the positions, these teammates were reassigned across our eight other stores. While we are minimizing the impact on our teammates as best we can, some (union and non-union) will experience hour loss to varying degrees. Eligibility for insurance is dictated by hours; however, we expect the change in eligibility to be limited.”